Party LIke It's 1995 / Wingbacks Strike Back

[dalians umbrella]

I was thinking, if Paul Lambert (allegedly) prefers his width to come from wingbacks rather than wingers, then should we try a return to Brian Little's 5-3-2 formation? The advantages of this formation is that you can have 2 up front, accommodate Stephen Ireland behind the strikers (a la Tommy Johnson) and then still have 2 proper midfielders behind him. The formation could look something like this:
 
                                                                               GK


                                   BAKER                                VLAAR                            CLARK



RIGHT-BACK                                                                                                                                   LEFT-BACK


                                               MIDFIELDER                             EL-AHMADI



                                                                              IRELAND


                                                               BIG MAN                               
                                                                                            BENT

[Malandro]

Concrete Ron and now Big Man. Looking forward to seeing Benteke

[Ad@m]

It's worth trying.

Although I wasn't at the game, last night's teamsheet suggested we had four central midfielders in midfield, I assume in a diamond formation.  To play that way you need two very good wingbacks (and ours are still a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment) and two rock solid centre halves (and ours certainly aren't).  Having three centre halves could give them the added support they need.

However, it's one thing playing that way against Tranmere but quite another against a decent Premier League side.  If we face a team with decent wingers and fullbacks, our wingbacks would pretty quickly get overwhelmed.  If the centre-mids then push out to cover it leaves one in the middle on his own.

[Vancouver]

I think that the idea about the wingbacks is more using them as an outlet. I.e if the play is tight then you have the full back hugging the touch line to spread the play. Similar to Man City. This allows the midfielders to almost roam around finding pockets and creating space but playing short passes. Once we lose the ball we drop back into rigid formation like a 442.

PL effectively said this about teams not playing with natural wingers anymore.

[claretandbeer]

Most of the Italian Serie A sides play with 3 at the back,as do Barcelona ,Bilbao and Wigan who converted to it with great success. The modern version stresses the need for the centre backs to be more comfortable on the ball and everyone to push up and press the opposition.Would suit the Villa' s squad,especially Clark or even Herd at CB

[JUAN PABLO]

I think I just watched Man $$ty with 3 at the back . A little pissed in Whistable watching it and didnt think they were that good . But it looked like 3 , might be the direction to go.

[Clark W Griswold]

If it means finishing 4th in the league, winning the league cup and getting to the semi final of the FA Cup whilst passing the ball around and scoring goals like we did at Boro away that season (i was there), bring it on. To be fair, it would suit a lot of the players we have, the only one i think would totally miss out would be Albrighton. We would need a few more centre backs though, one to go straight in certainly, and as you say a big man up front.

[Matt Collins]

3 at the back seemed dead a few years ago but has clearly made a come back. I don't really understand why though. It's great against a big standard 442 because you have more men in midfield. But it disappeared when teams started playing variations on 433. You end up with 3 centre backs marking the centre fwd and the wingbacks being pushed deep. Or you just splay 3 on 3 at the back which should be suicidal

However, clearly enough managers are moving to that approach and it does seem to work.

[Vancouver]

Not to mention that Wingbacks were introduced my SGT in 89. So I believe.

[Matt Collins]

Yes, to think we almost win the league with chris price an Kevin gage as full backs!

[Hookeysmith]

I have always liked the formation - its strange that with Managers they are always trying to come up with something and all the other follow suit

One minute 442 is the way to go, then 532 then 433 then 4321 - just like fashions i suppose they all come round agin in time

MY dear old Dad used to tell me that the Villa used to line up with 5 up top!!!

I see no one has the bottle to go the Spanish route of no strikers yet?

[Monty]

I could say what I think, but here's a link to an article which does it much better:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/aug/28/football-back-three-manchester-city

[Hookeysmith]

I could say what I think, but here's a link to an article which does it much better:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/aug/28/football-back-three-manchester-city

I see there was no mention of the innovitive line taken by TSM

                                                        Given

Hutton   Collins   Heskey   Gabby     Dunne    Clark     Herd     Petrov   Cuellar    Warnock

[darren woolley]

I think that system could work would be worth a try.

[dave.woodhall]

I loved the idea but it soon became an excuse for managers to play five at the back.